Catchings leads Fever past Silver Stars

The Fever dropped back-to-back games during their recent West
Coast trip, the most consecutive losses they've had this season.

Things gpt back to normal for the Fever on Thursday. Tamika
Catchings had 20 points and eight rebounds, and the Fever beat
the San Antonio Silver Stars 77-66 to tie a franchise record
with their 13th consecutive home win.

With the win, Indiana (20-7) earned homecourt for the first
round of the playoffs. If the Fever win Saturday against
Sacramento, they will clinch the Eastern Conference
regular-season title with six games to play.

"Clearly, we love playing at home, which is why it's important
we finish not just on top of the Eastern Conference, but overall
and retain homecourt advantage throughout," Indiana guard Tully
Bevilaqua said.

While Indiana has the league's best record, San Antonio is
struggling to remain in the playoff race. The Silver Stars
(11-17) lost their fourth straight.

Sophia Young and Ann Wauters both scored 18 points for San
Antonio, but their scoring couldn't offset the team's 23
turnovers.

"I thought they came out aggressive on defense and took our
turnovers and made them productive on points for them," Young
said. "We usually don't turn the ball over that much."

San Antonio guard Becky Hammon, the No. 2 scorer in the league,
was held without a point in 32 minutes. She had scored in double
figures in 26 of the previous 27 games, but missed all five of
her field-goal attempts and had five turnovers.

Bevilaqua, who shared the job of guarding Hammon with Briann
January and Katie Douglas, said it's rare to handle such an
accomplished scorer so well.

"She's a world-class player," Bevilaqua said. "You need to
contain her, but you can't do it on your own. We just wanted to
get the ball out of her hands and I think we did a very good job
of that."

Indiana was aware that San Antonio desperately needed a win.
Catchings said Fever coach Lin Dunn reminded the team of that
before the game, and the Fever responded by taking a 21-11 lead
at the end of the first quarter, then maintaining control from
there. The Fever never trailed.

"We don't have time so sit back and let things come to us,"
Catchings said. "We've got to go out and we've got to attack.
That's what we did today. We hit first."

Catchings said the Fever don't take any of their home wins for
granted, and they expect to be challenged.

"Everybody that comes into this building sees a big target on
our backs, like 'we're going to be that team to knock them
down,"' Catchings said. "For us as a team, we can't become
complacent."